In psychology, coping is the process of managing
taxing circumstances, expending effort to solve personal and interpersonal
problems, and seeking to master, minimize, reduce or tolerate stress or
conflict.

In coping with disease, people tend to use one
of the two main coping strategies: either problem focused or emotion focused
coping.

People using problem focused strategies try to
deal with the cause of their problem. They do this by finding out information
on the disease, learning new skills to manage their disease and rearranging
their lives around the disease.

Emotion focused strategies occur when the person
modifies the way they think, for example: employing denial, or distancing
oneself from the problem. People may alter the way they think about a problem
by altering their goals and values, such as by seeing the humour in a
situation.

People may use a mixture of these different types
of coping, and coping mechanisms will usually change over time. All these
methods can prove useful, but some claim that those using problem focused
coping strategies will adjust better to life.

The information above is not intended
for and should not be used as a substitute for the diagnosis and/or treatment
by a licensed, qualified, health-care professional. This article is licensed
under the GNU Free Documentation
License. It incorporates material originating from the Wikipedia article
"Coping".